In response to an invitation from the Independent High Electoral Commission of Iraq and to further contribute to enhancing transparency and confidence in the electoral process in the whole of the country, the European Commission has deployed two electoral experts to the Iraqi Kurdistan Region in the framework of the 2009 Regional Elections, scheduled to be held on 25 July 2009. The mandate of the electoral experts is to provide inputs for confidence-enhancing steps, during and after the elections. They will undertake a detailed analysis on the ongoing electoral process in the region and report to relevant electoral stakeholders in Iraq and to the European Union institutions. P ublic statements from the experts about the election are not foreseen. The deployment of the electoral experts is financed under the European Instrument for Human rights and Democracy. This electoral assistance is a natural follow up to the deployment of electoral experts to the Provincial elections in January 2009 and the Commission’s support to the political process in Iraq since 2005, to which the Commission has been one of the major international donors with more than €80 million.